


Toy Soldier

by Shmeowzow



Series: Post-Apocalyptic [2]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-16 20:04:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16501853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shmeowzow/pseuds/Shmeowzow
Summary: Hancock skipped out on Domino leaving her feeling raw, but she still had work to do. Luckily there was a certain gun for hire she had on retainer, hiding out at the Red Rocket Truck Stop near Sanctuary.





	Toy Soldier

**Author's Note:**

> Directly following the events of Sugarbomb.

A few weeks of happiness in a wasted world; that's what Domino had with John Hancock after their night of shared chems, booze, and feelings, among other things. Then a few weeks were gone and one morning, Domino woke up colder than usual, and alone. John hadn't even left a note. They had been camped out in a warehouse out in the middle of the commonwealth, doing some recon for the Railroad. Business as usual, and then he was just... _gone._ In her heart, Domino knew why. _Because John ran away from everything._ Knew it was all him, knew she shouldn't take it personally, but she did. How could she not? She'd told her she loved him, and she had truly beleived she did; truly beleived he felt the same way. _Guess she was another high he got bored of chasing._ She had only been without him for minutes when she started to miss his touch; it had become natural to be with him, all the time, and then...

When he up and left she headed back to Sanctuary to clear her head; couldn't even be bothered to finish the mission right then. She had feelings to drown, after all, and John's departure had left her in a bit of a spin, mentally. She didn't exactly want to drown those feelings at a bar she and John had, well, _consecrated_ , but it was conveniently located above her primary residence, so Domino was willing to get over the implications as she almost tripped inside over the threshold, her legs sore and wobbly from the near-endless stretch of miles she'd just walked by herself. Geena, the settler who tended bar her during the day, looked up from the back of the room and smiled when she saw Domino. "Wasn't expecting you again so soon, Boss."

Domino fell into a heap on the stool in front of the bartop, and motioned for a glass. Geena wasted no time popping open Domino's preferred scotch and serving it to her neat. Domino swallowed it down, resisting the urge to hiss and curse as it burned in her chest, thinking to herself that the burn was better than the emptiness had been as she motioned for another. "Slight change of plans."

Geena nodded, looking a little concerned, but refilled the short glass all the same. Dom was a big girl, and if she'd wanted to open up about whatever it was that had her chasing the bottom of a bottle before 1pm, Geena knew she would have. Domino had slowed to a sip by her 3rd glass, absentmindedly half-listening to Travis ramble on about about this and that on the broadcast from Diamond City. In the weeks following her little incident with Bobbi No-Nose, Travis had covered the disappearance a few times; even went so far as to allege perhaps she'd finally crossed the wrong people. _Well, that was one way to put it._ Dom half-wondered if Travis had somehow learned the truth, of her deeds, or if he was merely spectating. Either way, she didn't worry her old friend would sell her out. Bobbi'd had a lot of well deserved enemies, and Dom had done right by Travis. It was then that Domino realized she no longer felt guilty about dispatching the old ghoul, and it took her a second to realize it was because she'd been so preoccupied boxing up all of her lamentations over John that she must have swept that guilt up too without even noticing. In any case, she annoyingly felt like she should thank him as she downed the rest of a glass.

Domino found that she recognized the familiar, loping gate stomping up the rickety steps to her bar before MacCready even passed through the silk and tin cans hanging low above the open door. She was so surprised and inexplicably releived at his presence that she forgot to wonder why he was there, in Sanctuary, instead of the Red Rocket station nearby, where he'd been hiding out. Mac thought most of the people in Sanctuary were stuck-up and soft, and preferred to blend in with the more tough crowd at the smaller settlement. Plus, Valentine had made himself comfortable here, and Synths gave Mac the heebie-jeebies. He seemed a little surprised to see her then, removing the dirty bandanna that had been covering the bottom half of his face, revealing a thick layer of scruff surrounding his full mouth. "Hey there, stranger. Didn't know whether or not to expect you."

He waited there near the door, fidgeting expextantly, until Domino finally whispered, "Hey Mac," and patted the seat next to her.

Geena smiled at him, pouring a drink out of the same bottle Dom had been nursing. They sat drinking in silence for some time, and that's one thing Domino didnt realize she missed until just now; their uncanny ability to remain amiably silent together. The two bickered like siblings at points, so it was usually out of neccessity, but felt like a comfort right now. They had teamed up right around the time she'd first stumbled into Goodneighbor, and he'd managed to convince a green, more naive Domino that she needed his assistance out there in the wasted commonwealth enough for her to part with 200 precious caps.

Domino had done him two favors now that he felt he couldn't repay though, and after the first he'd sheepishly handed back over the caps she'd paid for him and hung his head at Red Rocket for a while. The second kindness she'd done him was actually why he found himself here now; he wasn't sure if she'd be there, who would be with her, or how long he'd have to wait if she wasn't, but he was willing to chance running into creepy Deacon, or that old bag-of-bolts detective if it meant he'd be able to finally get this huge weight off of his chest. Domino and MacCready parted ways at Red Rocket once more after she'd helped him dig up a cure and get it on its way to his son, Duncan. A part of him was still wary of her good deeds, her unwavering friendship. No one was just _good_ like her, anymore. A part of him had to make himself believe she'd done it because she understood what losing a son felt like, and nothing more. Anything more and he'd start to...well, in any case, he'd wanted to say so much to her back then, but he couldn't find the words, or balls, to be honest.

He'd be lying if he wasn't man enough to admit that a big part of the reason he didn't hang around Sanctuary more often was so he wouldn't have to see the way Domino and Hancock oggled one another when they were together, which was more often than not. He was no idiot, and he wouldn't even have to be one besides to notice they were hot on each other. They'd be drinking together at the small bar in Red Rocket, and she'd burst out into her lovely, tinkling laughter before gracing some part of Hancock's vast scarrification with her pristine fingers. Usually he enjoyed living vicariously through the flirting of others, especially those so attractive as she, but when it was Dom it just gave Mac a sickly feeling he couldn't place. Not because of Hancock's state of being, or anything. Ghouls weren't his cup of tea, so he didn't exactly understand the appeal, but John was a good, decent man. That counted for a lot to Mac, and apparently it counted for a lot to Dom, too. Which meant he didn't stand a chance in hell, and for the first time since his arrival, he was starting to question going through with what he'd come out here to do. How he thought it was going to pan out. Domino cleared her throat and MacCready jumped a little. He hadn't realized how hard he'd been thinking. Mac finished his drink, and set his glass down on the bar top a little too loud, causing one of Domino's eyebrows to quirk up at him. He smiled at her grimly. It was now or never, right? Clearing his own throat he began digging through his dirty coat, the one he'd let Dom sleep in on the road sometimes when she told him she was cold.

Domino watched him pull out a tiny wooden figure, painted up like a little soldier; he even had his own rifle. MacCready turned it around in his hand a few times, fingers spanning the smooth, polished curves of the doll. He was staring at it so intently, paying as much attention to this little, inanimate thing he held as any killshot he'd ever prepared to land. "My, my uh...Duncan's mother. She made this for me."

Domino's eyes softened as she looked at the little thing now, the way Mac was regarding it as if it were made of something far more precious. He'd never mentioned Duncan's mother before, and if he'd waited this long to do so, Dom was pretty sure there was a good reason. "Anyways," he said, taking the little toy and pressing it into her hand, "I know how you must feel, about still not being able to find your boy, but I know you're going to find him. And when you do, I want you to give this to him, for me."

Domino stared down at the wooden soldier, but couldn't bring herself to close her hand around it. She managed to find and hold onto MacCready's gaze, even though he wanted to look down; she always had a strange way of demanding eye contact that he could never refuse. "Don't you want Duncan to have this?"

MacCready frowned, he'd never thought of giving the toy to Duncan, and it wasn't until just then that he realized why. He imagined presenting it as a gift to his boy, but it didn't feel quite right. He tried to both understand, and explain, "She made it for me because she thought I was...I lied. I never told her who I really was. I told her I was a soldier."

Mac finally withdrew his hand from Domino, leaving the figurine in her grasp. He had no idea why he was telling her all of this, why he'd decided to give her the stupid toy in the first place. _Fucking emotions._ Mac never liked 'em. He took another generous swig from his glass. Geena had disappeared to the market so she could stock the bar up for the week, leaving them to help themselves. Domino still hadn't taken hold of his little totem, just ran her fingers across the smooth, painted wood as she just quietly waited for her friend to continue. Dom was both enraptured by his past, and alltogether thankful for the distraction. He was silent for some time though, and finally Domino couldn't help but ask, daring no more than a whisper, "What happened to her?"

Mac recounted the tale, emotionless, in all of one breath, like he was retelling a scene from a television show. "I couldn't be honest with her, I couldn't protect her...so, no. I'd rather not give Duncan a lie as the last thing to remember his mother by. If you give it to Shaun...I don't know. Maybe it will mean something."

Domino was frozen in her seat, not sure what to say. All of a sudden her misery seemed so small. Sure, she knew exactly what it felt like to watch the love of her life be executed right in front of her, helpless to stop it, but somehow Mac's sadness seemed deeper, and more wide even than the ocean of her own. At that point her companion had been stealing glances at her from behind his glass for a few moments. Finally he spat, "You don't have to take it, you know. It doesn't really matter..."

Domino's hand snapped shut around Mac's little toy soldier, and she drew it reflexively to her chest. "No. I love it. Of course I'll give it to him."

Mac's face softened without his consent. He'd apparently been holding his breath, and when she closed her strong, beautiful fingers around his doll, it all came rushing out of him in a hiss, as if she had wrapped those pretty digits around _him,_  and pressed it out. Setting his glass down again, he decided it was time to leave before he spilled any more of his guts all over Domino's lap. "Well, thats what I came here for, so. I'd better get going before it gets too dark."

Domino's free hand shot out, finding MacCready's arm, missing it and tugging at his coat like a child. His heart skipped a beat when she whispered his name, asked him to stay. Reluctantly, he sat back down, not sure how to regard his friend anymore. His feelings about her were starting to get a little more...conflicted, than usual. He practically breathed a sigh of releif when she said, "I think I know what might make you feel better. And, I could actually use your help."

Little did he know, some hours later, as they were sneaking into an abandoned supermarket in the middle of fucking nowhere, that Dom was dragging him on some robot railroad nonsense. It wasn't that shooting things up with a pal while drunk as an old sailor didn't strike him as a good time, it was just that, as far as Mac was concerned, the only "people" that mattered were the ones that lived, breathed, and eventually died; like Lucy, Domino, and their sons. Not some man-made, self-actualized humanoid bunch. Other than Dom, he didn't much know who to trust anymore, but he knew he didn't trust any of the robots, so _no way_ he trusted the railroad. She knew how he felt about it, and usually did him the courtesy of leaving him out of railroad goings-on. However, he owed Dom a lot more than helping her do a little bit of good work for something she cared about. _Just had to leave the trailer today, didn't you Mac?_ Feelings were nothing but trouble. "So we're just here to see why your correspondents aren't checking in from this point anymore?"

Domino pushed the busted door open as quietly as she could, motioning for him to follow her. "Yeah. Don't worry, this isn't Synth territory. More likely we'll run into Scavvers or Raiders than anything."

Mac dug an old package of bubblegum out of his coat and popped a piece into his mouth, chewing his growing anxiety away. "Yeah well, I hope you're right. I've got a bad feeling about this place."

Dom rolled her eyes as she toed open an old chem cooler, flashing her light at the contents before moving on. "Oh, stop being so fucking dramatic."

She wanted to mean it, but RJ MacCready's gut was rarely off base, and she was developing a seemingly baseless, eerie feeling too.

Mac wasn't intending on letting Dom's little quip slide, but just then they had both heard and felt a deep, sharp, rumble that seemed to shake the room around them. The pair glanced up at the ceiling, guns ready, then at each other, before slowy moving toward a flight of stairs that went up three levels before crumbling away. They followed the steps upward, searching for evidence of a coup or squabble as they went, but not finding much. Dom heard a scratching sound and spun quickly around a corner, shining her flashlight this way and that. For a moment she thought she saw something moving, almost shimmering in the distance, but as she pressed forward she suddenly heard a sickening crack. Glancing down she realized her boot had just crunched into the neck of a freshly dead corpse, and fought not to run away gagging. Mac was just coming around the corner, having heard her abrupt stop, asking, "What is it, Boss?"

They both pivoted back in the direction Dom had been advancing when they heard a deafening roar, and the sound of thundering footsteps tearing toward them, corpse alltogether forgotten. Both of their hearts sank in unison; it was almost certainly a deathclaw. They were  _so dead._ Mac cursed, catching Dom's arm and all but dragging her in the other direction. They could both hear the creature screeching and looming behind them as they ran, tearing everything in its path apart as it went. They were almost halfway back down the steps when suddenly a chunk of stairway gave out under Mac's boot, and they both lost their footing, stumbling over the edge of the crumbling staircase together. Domino screamed, the deathclaw screamed, MacCready cursed himself over and over as he grasped onto Domino's legs for dear life; they were both hanging off the ege of a 200 foot drop by Dom's hands and a piece of jagged rebar. He'd never been so scared, and only this pissed off at himself a handful of times in his entire life.  _How could he have been so clumsy?_

Dom felt like the muscles in her arms were tearing away as she fought to keep the both of them from falling to their deaths. Grunting, she used all of her strength to pull her shoulders back up and over the crumbling stairs, jagged peices of shrapnel digging into her skin as she struggled; but what she saw when she looked up had her ignoring her pain and frozen in fear. Barreling toward them was the giant, black monster, covered in razor sharp scales, its maw gasping wide and full of jagged points waiting to haphazardly filet the both of them. The building's foundation shook with its every lunge, and finally, as it leapt toward her, threatening to shred her to pieces and devour everything it tore apart, she screamed again, bottoming out her lungs, and let go of the rebar in a desperate attempt to escape the demonic looking thing.

Her scream echoed outward, and the falling felt like slow motion, even as Mac wrapped his body around hers like a cage before they crashed through a thick layer of rickety floor boards. All it took was a few more seconds, and a few more well-felt crashes, before they were in a heap together, on the ground in the basement surrounded by rubble.

MacCready came to panting, gasping, and in pain, holding tight to Domino as he struggled with bits of floorboard and foundation pressing them down. _How the fuck was he alive?_ "Dom! Domino, fuck, are you okay?"

He saw her below him, covered in dust and plaster, every inch of pale skin turned grey and brown with detritus. Mac worked furiously to dig her out of the debris, ignoring a tearing pain in his shoulder, but it didn't feel like she was helping him back, and she wasn't answering. "DOM!"

Mac didn't know why he was screaming with a deathclaw still out there somewhere with their scent, all he knew was he wanted Domino to get up, to move, to say something. He heard a thick, ripping sound before her shoulder gave way, and then he had her in his arms; an entire sleeve of her leather jacket was missing. It must have been caught on something. MacCready held Domino close to him, kneeling. Brushing the dirty mess of hair out of her face, his heart sank when he saw her eyes were closed, lashes resting still above her scratched and sullied cheeks. "No, no, no,  _no, no..._ "

For an instant Mac felt numb, just like he had that night with Lucy, after he had done away with the ghouls, but it had still been too late. It was just a numb, empty, self-aware aloneness that was silent but somehow louder than any other noise he'd ever heard. Hell, he wished he'd had this much left to hold after Lucy was gone. Very carefully, Mac lowered his head to Domino's chest, pressing his ear hard against her body, listening. He held his breath as he waited. His chest started to hurt as he kept waiting, then finally,  _she moved._ Mac's head shot up like a prarie dog, grasping Dom's precious face in one hand and holding her tightly to him with the other. His eyes had welled up and he couldn't find words as hers fluttered, blinked, opened. She made a piteous sound as she looked around, trying to figure out what had happened. Finally her eyes found Mac, and his heart melted.  _She was alive. He wasn't alone._ Joy welled up inside of MacCready, and it wasn't a feeling he really recognized anymore. Hyped up on adrenaline and elation, before he could stop himself, Mac leaned down and smashed his lips against Domino's, mindlessly trying to devour what he thought he'd just lost, so it would be safe forever.

Domino wiggled around in protest, and when she finally pushed him away from her, they were both panting. "Mac!"

 _Shit, shit, shit._ What had he done? MacCready scrambled backward in the darkness, trying to place the look in Dom's wild eyes. "I'm sorry Dom. I'm so, so sorry. I shouldn't have done that, I know you and Hancock are together, I was just- I thought you were...and then you were alive."

MacCready couldn't think of what else to say. Dom raised a hand to her face, and for an instant Mac's heart withered, because he thought she was going to wipe him away from her lips, but her fingers kept going. They finally landed on her cheekbone, where Mac was just now noticing a gash that could very well require stiches. It was far enough back that it was partially hidden in her hair, almost stretching behind her ear. Mac must have had his hand clamped down on it when he was assaulting her with his idiocy. "How did you know about me and John?"

It wasn't a question Mac was expecting to hear, and he was finally winding down enough to notice there was a distinct lack of deathclaw noises above them, but he held the thought. "I know you never told anyone y'all were official, but the way you two looked at each other when you thought no one was watching was...it was hard to miss."

Mac missed the way Lucy used to look at him that way, touch him the way Domino must have surely been touching Hancock behind closed doors, driving him crazy with her body. God, she had been so beautiful. Dom reminded him of her so much sometimes. Maybe that's why he was feeling so strange, so out of control of his emotions. _Must be._ "I don't hear the deathclaw anymore," Dom whispered. Why did her voice sound so fragile now?

"Yeah, me either. We'd better kick rocks before she comes back 'round. My money for who cleared this place out is on her."

Mac had just started to get up, listening to the snaps and pops of his aching joints, when Domino suddenly blurted out, "John left me."

Mac froze, still half kneeling.  _What the actual fuck did she just say?_ As if she could hear his thoughts, or he'd said it out loud, Domino went on. "We uh...and then he just...I don't know. _I don't know._  Everything was fine, and then I just woke up today and he was gone."

She threw her hands up, and Mac couldn't stop himself from moving toward her. No wonder she'd been day drinking by herself when he'd found her that afternoon. He could hear the tears welling up in her voice, and he'd never felt such an odd mixture of pity, anger, and misplaced guilt all at once. Crouching back down, he enfolded her body with his own, quietly rubbing her back. "I'm sorry sweetheart. I wish I could sock that fucking moron."

Even if Hancock were here, Mac knew he owed him too much to start a fight. It was going to take a lot for him to wrap his head around John having the unmitigated gall to run out on Domino though, and even longer for him to get over it. "Come on, babe. Let's get you back home."

Shakily, she let him help her to her feet and lead her toward what was hopefully a way out of here. Mac was quiet, half lost in thought, and half focused on getting them to safety. Dom couldn't focus on anything but the pain in her face, her aching body, and the warmth of Mac's hand engulfing hers. He could have been leading her into danger and she wouldn't have even noticed, that soft heat was so distracting. Before she could stop herself, she tugged on his hand. Mac spun around, worried, but Domino caught him by the shoulders. One hand snaked up his neck, cupping his jaw, and now Mac's heart was in his throat, chest somehow still pounding.  _What was she doing?_

Her face got so close to his that he could feel her breath on his lips, and then she whispered his name right onto them,  _"Mac..."_

He had closed the space between them before he'd even known what happened, their warm lips joined together, bodies pressing closer than the pair had ever been before. There was a feeling niggling in the back of Mac's brain that told him he should stop, couldn't get carried away with her, that they shouldn't be doing this; _that_ _Domino loved Hancock,_ but right now she was in Mac's arms, not his, and he didn't care anymore. He found himself moving them, pressing her gently against the wall, continuing to devour her delicious mouth, tongue and all. Her hips ground back against his and he let out a shuddering gasp that tore him away from her. Dom took the opprotunity to busy herself with the fastenings of his trousers. She had them loose and down to his knees before he even felt the chill. He was already swelling and getting harder with each passing second that she stared seemingly hungrily at his thick manhood, like it was a slab of raw meat. MacCready was both unsettled and immeasurably aroused by this. 

Then she did something he didn't expect, splaying the fingers of one hand against his hip, and using the other to help heave his cock past her lips and into the soft, slick, warmth of her mouth. All rational thought was lost as MacCready buried his hands in Dom's hair, careful to avoid the cut he'd noticed earlier. He could feel the tip of him brushing the back of her throat as her lips met the patch of hair beneath his navel. _God, she had him so deep._ He never would have guessed a pre-war girl knew how to handle a dick like that, but after seeing her with her guns, Mac figured he probably shouldn't be so surprised as he was. He shuddered, moaning nonsense into the room as Dom's tongue worked against that smooth, responsive skin. Her mouth was getting him dangerously close, and he had to stop her from taking him back in by holding on to her hair. Dom looked up at Mac expectantly, licking her lips.

Crouching low, he retook her mouth while carefully pressing her downward, into the rubble, just like they'd started out. On autopilot he removed his cap, setting it down neatly where he wouldn't forget about it. Domino's fingers poured through his chestnut curls as his hands began tugging at her leathers. Pulling away the bottom half of Dom's clothing, MacCready hungrily palmed her warm, throbbing center. Dom mewled, ground herself into his hand, hungry for more friction. Mac did her one better; well, two actually, when he slid his talented digits up and down that slick warmth before plunging a few in, curling them upward.  _"Fuuuu..."_

Domino clapped a hand over her mouth, trailing off. She left it there, muffling the cries Mac's hands were currently drawing out of her body. He was getting her just as close as she'd just had him in return, hammering into her aching g-spot; but he couldn't take any more waiting. She was so wet and ready for him, and he wasn't going to let any of her sweet juices go to waste. She let out a greedy sigh when he withdrew his fingers, but all of the air returned to her lungs just as suddenly when he began inching his way inside of her. He'd wanted to take her fast and at once, force himself all the way, but she was so tight that he was faltering, sputtering half-moans as he withdrew, slickening his length so he could go further.

Domino was seeing stars, enjoying that lush, fullness that bordered on pain as Mac greedily began pumping harder, faster, now that he had her stretching around him. She barely noticed the jagged hunks of wood and cement digging into her back, and she cared even less, wrapping her legs tightly around MacCready's slim hips, forcing him deeper. He buried his face into her neck, trying to control his breathing, his volume, but he couldn't. He was so lost, and Domino was eating up his delicious noises like fuel, feeding that building ache he'd started in her belly with his hands. She ignored the prickly scrape of his jawline at her throat, arching her back, forcing friction on her clit with Mac's navel. Sensing her endgame, he grasped her hips with bruising force and ground down, into her body, as fast and as hard as he could, approaching his own climax more suddenly than he was comfortable.

Screams ripped out of Domino's lungs in time with Mac's hips, and when she began forming those screams into his name, once, twice, over and over again, he lost it. They both felt him as he gushed, spilling himself into her as he continued hammering away, rhythm winding down in tandem with a marked decent of Dom's volume. Shaking, MacCready collapsed into Domino's damp and weakened arms, curling into her, wishing her body into a coffin made just for him. Either of them could have fallen asleep just like this, but they both knew they needed to get back to safety.

On the way out of the building they figured out why mamma deathclaw had left them alone; turns out they weren't the only ones that had taken a tumble. They figured when Dom had dropped, the beast lunged strait over them, and right through the adjacent wall of the derelict supermarket. Domino kicked its body as they passed, and MacCready couldn't help but smile, wrapping an arm around her now coatless shoulders and pulling her close. They continued back to Sanctuary in silence, and it was into the wee hours before they stepped foot on Domino's front porch.

Mac stopped short of the door, hands finding his pockets, eyes set on his boots. Now that he'd had time to cool his jets, to think, he'd decided it would be better for him to keep moving, back up the road to Red Rocket. He didn't need to stay, to make this any harder for himself than it already was. He'd go back to roaming defense and tinkering with guns, and she'd go back to saving the world. Mac new John well enough to know he would eventually show back up; and besides, no _man,_ ghoulified or otherwise, was stupid enough to leave a wasteland warrior-goddess like Domino unaccounted for very long. She seemed to sense this withdrawl from him, and felt just as wholly conflicted as he. She knew she was in no place to go offering feelings up, or go throwing them around, but..."Don't go yet," she said suddenly, holding one finger up for him to wait while she turned-tail and half-sprinted inside.

Mac cursed within his head, kicking a stone hatefully across the street at a derelict mailbox.  _Get out of there, Robert, before you regret it._  Dom emerged moments later, running right up to him, clutching something small in her hands. For a moment his heart stopped, and he feared it was his solider; that she'd changed her mind and didn't want it,  _want him,_ anymore, but that's not what it was at all. She grabbed an empty hand of his and pressed something small and hard into it. When she pulled away, his fingers parted. and staring back up at him was a pale, white domino. It had four spots total, all on one end, and when he brushed his thumbs full across it, he realized it was made of bone. He looked at her, confused but curious, and her face quirked into a grimace of her own confusion. "I don't know my name," she said, her words ringing in his ears, making more sense as the seconds passed, now that he slowed and thought on it. What kind of pre-war woman had a name like Domino, anyway? Mac was surprised he'd never guessed it was a nickame before. "A lot of the Vault files were corrupted, or incomplete. Anyway, Shaun had a set of Dominos that my father gave him."

She smiled now, sweetly, remembering how strong and warm her father had been. She missed him all the time, even though he'd passed long before the bombs fell. Brain tumor, when she was only 27. "Shaun barely knew his grandfather, but when he was born, my Daddy carved him a set of Dominos out of wild hog bone...it was his favorite game."

Mac found himself enraptured in her tale, studying the hand-carved domino for all of its beautiful, unique flaws. She wiped her eyes before continuing. "Shaun must have grabbed one of them before we left..."

She trailed off, hand meeting her eyes to catch more tears. "Because um, because I found it in my..." she cleared her throat, reliving that moment again, only outside of her dreams, for the first time in a long while, "I found it in my husband's pod. After I woke up, after they took Shaun."

MacCready couldn't stop his heart from breaking for her. They were two sides of the same coin, these two, and that's a big part of what made this all so hard. "They asked my name, my first day in Diamond City. I didn't know what else to call myself."

Mac's hand closed tight around the domino; he couldn't imagine to ever letting it go until she spoke her next words. "Give it to Duncan for me."

His breath caught in his throat, thinking about her, thinking about his boy; thinking about his boy  _with a mother._ His internal defenses swept away at the cobwebs of those thoughts, and tucking the little heirloom into his coat, he was about to go. He was prepared to leave alone, to walk alone, to return to his rotting mattress on the ground  _alone,_ until Domino whispered two sweet words to him, grasping at his hand before he could turn away; she said, _"Please stay."_


End file.
